/ Silly out of date food

My all purpose seasoning in my camper van has a sell by date of Feb 2014. How on earth can seasoning go out of date? I don't use it often but have just added it to a re-heated chicken dinner and I'm sure it won't produce any ill effects.

No, give it to me, I don't drink but I'm sure I can relocate it.
My folks have a larder that's always turning up trumps with out of date food. About 10 years ago we discovered something in there that was bought pre decimalisation, the really worrying thing is that since then they've moved house four times!
Old people eh?

Even sealed ampules of sterile saline solution has a use-by date. It's physically impossible for anything to happen to that stuff unless the the seal on the packet breaks. Not all use-by dates make sense.
In reality all you need to do is to know what use-by dates are important and what are not. Herbs, spices, salt can be used for every. Vacuum sealed containers can be used well past their use-by date.... the stuff you want to be careful off it just the obvious things like fresh meat, rocket, dairy stuff. I tend to go much more by whether something looks or smells off than by the use-by date. Milk is also a classic for often going off well before its use-by date so I never assume it's OK irrespective of the date on it.

> Alternatively, unless the smell of it makes you recoil and/or vomit, or it moves under its own steam, it’s worth a go.

> JW

I tried eating butter which faintly smelled of cheese the other day, and half way way through my sandwich started to retch and realised butter which smelled faintly of cheese wasn't faintly cheese like in taste. You have to try these things I guess. My fridge is now empty of butter which smells faintly of cheese, ;-)

> I tried that on some blue stilton. Took ages & there was sod all left when I'd finished.

When I was a student I was snacking on some cheese and crackers while watching something engrossing on the telly. “Wow” I thought, “this blue cheese is really strong”. Finally I looked at down at what I was eating. The cheese was regular cheddar, but the crackers were greeny blue with white fluffy bits.

In reply to estivoautumnal: At some point in the late 80s (88 at a guess) a great aunt rooted a bar of chocolate out of the cupboard for me and my brother. It didn’t have a best before date on it, but it was pre-decimal. We wrote to Cadbury, they said it would be fine to eat, but they would happily exchange it for a new bar. We have still got it, it was about 20 years old when we got it, must be approaching 50 now.

In 1977 my friends and I went around trying to taste as many of the Silver Jubilee ales as possible, and we kept some samples of several different breweries. These are still in my roof-space. I would imagine that they are still potable,but they are probably a little past their best. I just need to get my friends back together. (I did go on a half Haute-Route trip with one at the end of August for a few days.)

In reply to mangoletse: Expiry date on grinding wheels is worth taking notice of as they deteriorate over time due to ingress of moisture and there's a risk of them bursting in use

Definitely second that! The photo of a shard of 12" grinding disk embedded in someone's skull goes down as one of the worst shock pictures I have seen on a training course. (In third place after why you don't recharge a damaged dive cylinder and why you don't push mobile access platforms under high voltage cables).

In reply to estivoautumnal: One useful tip about old batteries - I have found that alkaline cells that are reaching their expiry date but that have not suffered a significant voltage drop (eg by storage in damp, humid or hit conditions etc) can have their shelf life greatly extended by applying a small low current charge sufficient to bring up the voltage to a little over what you'd expect when brand new (a little over 1.6 v per cell)

> Expiry date on grinding wheels is worth taking notice of as they deteriorate over time due to ingress of moisture and there's a risk of them bursting in use

> Definitely second that! The photo of a shard of 12" grinding disk embedded in someone's skull goes down as one of the worst shock pictures I have seen on a training course. (In third place after why you don't recharge a damaged dive cylinder and why you don't push mobile access platforms under high voltage cables).

You've not seen "why you properly tighten leg loops on full body harnesses" or "reasons not to strike a live 132kV cable with a demolition breaker"?

The Reviews in the link you gave don't appear to be for the 1875.
My understanding is that, that no matter how fine the wine, that, past a certain age, quality declines. Additionally the possibility that it has 'corked' goes up too. Having said all that the rarity of the wine means that if you had an unopened bottle the monetary value would be huge.

> I tried eating butter which faintly smelled of cheese the other day, and half way way through my sandwich started to retch and realised butter which smelled faintly of cheese wasn't faintly cheese like in taste. You have to try these things I guess.

No date printed on it obviously but I finally got round to trying some perry I made 5 or 6 years ago that was already old and neglected when it moved house with me 4 years ago, it's been in a half full demijohn with a failed airlock since at least the move. I expected vinegar and for sure it was a bit sharper than when I decanted it last (2013?) there was nothing fundamentally wrong with it.

About the same time I had to purge my flour cupboard due to an eruption of weevils, there was plenty in there that had gone over before I moved house with it!
jk

In reply to estivoautumnal: My record for milk is 27 days after the use by date.

Normal Organic Tesco milk.

Never did me any harm

I also had a cheese slice which was left out on a counter when we were doing our house up, it was there for about six months, in the sun as well. It didn't change apart from fading in colour. I didn't eat that though

When someone died from my dad's workplace in the 1970s he became the recipient of a load of stuff the deceased had in his office that no one knew what to do with. In it was ARP tin full of ATC stuff going back years and some aircraft recognition playing cards, etc etc. I remember a bar of Fry's chocolate in that tin in some kind of war economy wrapping.

> Does anybody know what happens if you do the same with jars of pesto bought from supermarkets?

Nothing whatsoever, unless you miss a bit of mould, in which case it makes your pasta taste a bit funky. If I remember, to avoid the problem I add back enough olive oil to cover the remaining contents of the jar before putting it in the fridge